Homemade soy yogurt!

I know I did a post about how to make homemade soy yogurt before, but I was not sure if my instructions were clear enough… plus, it is just too good to not post about it again!

Over the summer while I was in the US, I was disappointed when I could not find a good non-dairy yogurt. Almost all of them were sweetened and the one unsweetened soy yogurt I found was not very good in my opinion and contained all kinds of thickeners. Here, in the UK, they have a brand of soy yogurt that is incredibly smooth and creamy. The ingredients? Soy milk and cultures. No thickeners, sweeteners, or flavors. I like it even plain (of course it is also good with a little bit of raspberry jelly)!

Unfortunately, they only have this amazing soy yogurt in about 2 cup containers… in this household… we could go through one of those a day! So of course, I decided to make it! Fortunately, it is just as good as the store bought and it requires no yogurt maker! Plus, those of you who live in the soy yogurt deprived US can have some of the real stuff! 😉 It is really so simple and I make it almost every day!

The trick is to find a soy milk that has a higher fat content. I have made it with a few different brands and while one brand tastes amazing, the other one tastes bland and watery. Unfortunately, I have not tried all of the brands in the US, so I can not give you a definite recommendation. The soy milk I use, has 5.5 g of fat per 250 mls.

So what soy milk brand should you use? For those of you in the US… of course I spent the extra time and looked up all of the different soy milks in the US and their fat content. I have to say… 90% of them have sugar and/or 10 other “enriching” ingredients. Plus, most of them have a measly 4 g of fat per 240 mls (1 cup).

Finally I found one that has just two ingredients (soy beans and water) and has 6 g of fat per 240 mls! Now, I am jelous… with that fat content, I bet it is going to make a very creamy yogurt!

So, that soy milk is Eden Soy Unsweetened. Make sure it is unsweetened!

Oh, and I thought I would mention… don’t try and make yogurt with rice, oat, almond milk… it doesn’t work… I have tried! 😉

So how do I make it? I use a store bought yogurt as my starter and use generally 2 T plain soy yogurt for 3 c of soy milk. If you use yogurt as your starter, make sure it has LIVE strains of bacteria in it, otherwise it will not work. Your other option is to simply buy a non-dairy yogurt starter and then use your own yogurt as your starter for subsequent batches!

Instructions:

Mix room temperature soy milk with the yogurt in a glass jar. Put a lid on it and place it in your oven at 30 C or about 100 F overnight or about 10 hours. It should be thick and creamy. If not wait a couple of more hours.

If your oven does not go that low, I have also been successful making yogurt by preheating the oven, turning it off and leaving the yogurt overnight in the warm oven.

It might sound like a lot of work, but it really is easy once you have it down and the results are so worth it!

I love using the yogurt as a dressing, in coleslaw, parfaits, or eating straight out of the jar! If anyone tries to make it, please let me know how it goes! 😀

For breakfast/lunch/dinner I will make cauliflower “rice” (cauliflower in the processed in the food processer) mix yogurt in it, some cinnamon and optional stevia… tastes like cereal! You can also steam it if you would rather not have it raw! I also like to put (non-dairy) milk in it too… something about cold milk and cereal…

I know… I like REALLY healthy food! 😉

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On to other things:

Anyone think you can’t have a garden and live in London (while renting)? Leave my dad to figure that out! 😉

In between the bushes, he has conveniently “stashed,” in pots and growing bags, zucchini plants, corn, tomatoes…

Our first homegrown heirloom tomato!

lemon cucumber

baby carrots!

We also went blackberry picking again and I was determined to pick enough to make something… trouble is, I haven’t decided yet!

Last, but not least… I made some of my sweet potato brownies with oat flour (they were super sweet, sweet potatoes), left out the walnuts and flax and added a white mulberry cashew cheese icing… delish!

For those interested, I calculated the nutritional info for these babies (without icing) and they are 75 calories per brownie (1/9th of the recipe)!

Your recipes look fabulous. I have been trying to find a vegan dessert that my husband would like and think your carrot cake is just the one to try. Great blog,
I am going to be in London next week and would like to know the brand of yogurt you refer to. Thank you, Gayle

Wow, this is great news… and a great idea! Thank you- I’d often wondered if I could make *soy* yogurt on my own but somehow have just never got around to trying it. p.s. love the heirloom tomato! I so rarely see anything like that here in Germany!

No, I really don’t. I know that Whole Soy makes an unsweetened one, but I do not know if they cultures are active. You can always order a non-dairy yogurt starter and then use your own yogurt as the starter for subsequent batches. I have tried using the Eden unsweetened soy milk for making yogurt and it was fabulous!

I know you said that it doesn’t work with almond, rice, or oat milk, but have you tried coconut milk? It has a really high fat content, and I know that is why most people use it to make homemade yogurt. I have been using it to *try* to make my own yogurt for a couple times now, each time with no success, no matter which recipe I try. I think I will just go buy some Eden soy and try out your method, though! Thanks!

Yes, I have tried coconut milk. It works with any of the milks if it is thick enough (like a thick cream). I can do it with cashew cream, but it is more like cream cheese than yogurt. From what I understand it has to do with the ratio of fat/protein for it to curdle properly. Soy milk is similar in that regard to dairy milk. Let me know how it goes and if you have any more questions!

I just tried your recipe for soy yogurt and it came out beautifully! I live in the US and was fortunate enough to find the edens unsweetened soy you mentioned. They sell it by the case from their website which definitely brings down the cost. Thank you so much for such a simple and delicious recipe!

As far as almond milk goes, I make my yogourt with 1cup soaked cashews blended on high speed with 3 cups homemade almond milk and a table spoon of agave (used as “food” for the cultures). Based on my experience, without the sweetener, it won’t work. Maybe soy has more natural sugar which is why it works without it? This said, it doesn’t turn out as thick but I prefer the taste of it over soymilk yogurt.

Hi there! I’m excited to try your yogurt recipe. Do you know if it has to be in a glass jar? I have a casserole dish that is I believe a clay type pot with a lid that can be used in the oven. Would this work? Thanks so much!

Hi, I tried this and it was super easy! I made it for my son who’s got a dairy allergy. He loved it the first day, but then it started getting watery and sort of curdled. Also it was never smooth, rather one that you could cut a piece of yogurt from (like soft tofu) and he does not like it anymore. What did I do wrong?

I have made this 3 times using Eden unsweetened. Each time there is a thin pale pink layer on the top. I’ve never had that with coconut milk yogurt. Is this normal with soy yogurt or am I doing something wrong?

Hi Vicky, I love your blog! I am an Indian vegan living in the US and rely on plain, unsweetened soy yogurt for my South Indian cooking. As you noted, we have a dearth of plain, unsweetened soy yogurt available here. Wildwood was one brand, and they discontinued their yogurt. Whole Soy was the other and they are not producing yogurt currently as they are moving facilities.

Thanks for your informatin regarding soy yogurt. My granddaughter has a dairy allergy and soy has been a part of her diet. Here in the Midwest (near Chicago, IL), there has been NO soy yourt for over a month. It seems the main factory moved locations and all soy in the US has come to a grinding halt. It is unbelievable. I have been to known carriers of soy yogurt and been told they are totally out. Anyway, I may try your recipe. Thanks for all the time you have taken to research this.
Cheryl

I’m so excited to try this recipe! The brand of soy yogurt I was buying stop selling the flavor I like. Do you know or has anyone tried using Unsweetened Silk? It only has 4g of fat, so maybe it’s not the best to use, but it would be the most convenient to buy.

Love your simple but yummy recipes. Have you tried making yogurt with coconut milk? I found some in the health food shop yesterday and it is really good. I’m going to have a go at making it but wondered if you had tried.

This was so great! The yogurt came out perfectly! I am so happy to have found your recipe because most others tell you to put in sweeteners and exotic sounding thickeners! I tried one(reluctantly with the sugar) and it was disgusting! This was so simple and easy! Thank you so much!

PS: Is it possible to make greek yogurt with this? I ate greek before becoming vegan and have gotten used to it! I’m going to try putting it through the strainer.